Gravempibes, rejoice! Airplane and hospital air is actually cleaner, the study claims

If you want to avoid getting sick, chances are you’ll make it clear to visit a hospital or travel on planes full of people and their germs. However, a new study shows that hospital and airplane air is cleaner than we think.

Investigators are analyzing the plane’s air filter, as well as face masks worn by travelers and health workers, to screen the air on planes and in hospitals. A study published today in the journal microbiome reveals that the air in both environments primarily harbors harmless bacteria normally associated with human skin.

“We realized that we could use a face mask as a cheap, simple air sampling device for personal exposure,” Erica Hartmann, Microbiologist at Northwestern, said in a university statement in an email. “We extracted DNA from those masks and tested the types of bacteria that were found there. Somehow apparently, the bacteria were the types that were most commonly associated with indoor air.”

Used face mask

In total, Hartmann and his colleagues identified 407 types of bacteria, such as common skin bacteria and environmental bacteria. They also found very few pathogens without evidence of active infection. Apparently, the vision of the type of study goes back to January 2022, in the heart of the epidemic situation. Hartmann received a grant to search for pathogens in airplanes’ can filters but realized that investigating Hepa (Hepa) filters would be difficult.

“At the time, there was a lot of concern about airborne transmission,” explains Hartmann, an expert on indoor microbiomes. Because hepa filters work so well, “we thought it would be a good way to catch everything in the air. But these filters are not like the filters in our cars or homes.” They are very expensive, and “to remove them, the crew has to pull the plane out of service for maintenance. This costs a lot of money, and that was eye-opening.”

That’s when the group thought of a very cheap and simple tool that quickly catches virobes: a face mask. As it stands, the group has collected face masks from volunteers who wear them on domestic and international flights. Volunteers also sent a face mask that they had flown but never worn, for comparison. To investigate differences between indoor environments, the researchers chose another busy, closed environment with highly filtered air: hospitals. And so they collect face masks from hospital workers after wearing them during work.

Microbe DNA

The investigators analyzed the DNA on the outside of each mask, finding that the air in both areas contained a reduction of various bacteria but mainly, with little evidence that it could be pathogenic. The samples from both spaces mainly contain common bacteria that are associated with humans, especially in the air inside and on our skin. Furthermore, the microbes from both areas were very similar, although the number of each microbe differed slightly. Ultimately, the similarities show that germs on airplanes and in hospitals come from people themselves—specifically, their skin, not their illness—and not a specific environment.

The researchers also discovered specific types of antibiotic resistance associated with major classes of antibiotics. This does not mean that there are dangerous viruses floating around, but it does indicate that resistance to these viruses has spread.

In addition, “for this study, we only looked at what’s in the air,” Hartmann said. “Hand hygiene is always an effective way to prevent disease from being transmitted from high places. We were interested in what people are exposed to in the air, even if they wash their hands.”

The lesson should come as good news to anyone looking to fly for the upcoming holidays.